Ratnakarandaka Shravakachar

SR No.: 007745
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Vijay K Jain
Publisher: Vikalp Printers
Publication Year: 2016
Total Pages: 291
Language: English, Hindi, Sanskrit
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Book_English
File Size: 4 MB

Page 30

Ratnakarandaka-śrāvakācāra
EXPLANATORY NOTE
Lord Vardhamana, the World Teacher
Lord Vardhamana (known also as Lord Vira or Lord Mahāvīra) is the last of the twenty-four Tirthankara. A Tirthankara (a fordmaker for the others to cross the ocean of worldly cycle of births and deaths - samsara) propagates Truth for the welfare of all living beings. In every half cycle of cosmic age, the aeon of regeneration (utsarpiņi) or of degeneration (avasarpiņi), twenty-four Tirthankara are born in this part of the universe (called the Bharata kṣetra of Jambūdvīpa). Lord Vardhamāna graced this earth more than two and a half millenniums ago. He had the grandeur of right knowledge as his eyes and had cast the divine light of his discourses to destroy the darkness of ignorance, just as the rays of the moon destroy the darkness of the night.
The self-enlightened (svayambhū) saviour of all living beings, destroys the four inimical varieties of karmas (ghatiyā karmas) - deluding (mohaniya), knowledge-obscuring (jñānāvarṇīya), perception-obscuring (darśanavarṇīya), and obstructive (antaraya) through pure concentration and attains the allembracing, supreme and standalone knowledge known as omniscience (kevalajñāna). As the soul attains omniscience, the other four kinds of knowledge - sensory knowledge (matijñāna), scriptural knowledge (śrutajñāna), clairvoyance (avadhijñāna), and telepathy (manaḥparyayajñāna) – which know the object of knowledge partially and in succession become redundant and their role vanishes. Lord Vardhamana, thus became the 'World Teacher' or 'Arhat' or 'Apta' or 'Jina' - the true guide to put us on the right path and worthy to be venerated and worshipped by the lords of the world.
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A Tirthankara is worshipped by the lords of the devas and the men during the five most auspicious events (pañca kalyāṇaka) that
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